Time trial specialist Stef Clement (Belkin) had hoped to feature near the top end of the leader board in today's Tour de Romandie time trial but the Dutchman was left disappointed after only taking 19th. His teammate Laurens Ten Dam leaves the Swiss race confident that he will with the best at his big goal in California in a week's time.

The Tour de Romandie ended today with a time trial in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Stef Clement led home the Belkin Pro Cycling TEAM, placing 19th at 44 seconds behind winner Chris Froome (Sky). With the win, Froome also took the overall classification victory.

"It's difficult to comment on the time trial," Clement said. "I went for a top result, I felt good to do so, better than in País Vasco last month. Here I felt good enough, but I didn't make it to the top 10. There were 18 guys faster, I'm not happy with that even if the margins weren't that big."

Clement rode the 18.5-kilometre parcours next to Lake Neuchâtel in 25-35 minutes. The time put the Dutchman in the top twenty, but not close enough to Froome's 24-50 minutes.

"It was a headwind on the way out to the climb and a tailwind back," Sports Director, Erik Dekker said. "Stef did everything OK, the differences are really small from first place to him."

Belkin's other time trial strong-man, Jack Bobridge placed 29th with 26 minutes.

"Jack lost about 25 or 35 seconds on the climb," added Dekker. "He was good on the flat, a little faster than Stef, but on the climb he lost time."

Laurens ten Dam placed 17th on the stage to Aigle on Friday and moved up the overall. However, today he placed 2-08 minutes behind Froome and lost time in the overall classification. He closed the race in 24th, 10 minutes back. Clement, with his time trial today, ended in 28th.

Ten Dam leaves the race satisfied. He has been building up his form over the last two weeks to be ready for the Tour of California next month. He said that it was normal that he failed to finish in the top of the classification given his goal is still down the road.

"Before the race, we had Laurens as our classification rider," added Dekker. "We knew that he was not 100 per cent sure of top 10. He was up there in the queen stage, that was what we expected, but lost a little time on the other days. He'll be better in California, for sure."